The BBC has confirmed that it is developing a biographical drama based on the life of the legendary Daily Mirror journalist Marje Proops.

The as-yet-uncast drama is likely to be aired on BBC4 if it gets the green light and is understood to be an in-house BBC drama production.

Proops' own autobiography, her 1975 book Pride, Prejudice and Proops (Time Remembered), is likely to provide source material for the script, which is still in development.

The drama is also expected to rely on information contained in Angela Patmore's 1992 biography of the journalist, which claimed that she had a longstanding love affair while married to Sidney Proops.

Proops became a journalist in 1939 and joined the Daily Mirror as a fashion journalist. She later became famous for writing the Dear Marje advice column for the paper, which was accompanied by a trademark photograph of her clenching a pen between her teeth.

She was made an OBE in 1969 and continued writing her Mirror column until her death at the age of 85.

The development of the drama follows a successful run of one-off autobiographical dramas on BBC4.

BBC4's biopics, which aired in a season called The Curse of Comedy, examined the lives of figures including the entertainer Hughie Green, who was played by Trevor Eve, and another about Tony Hancock, who was played by Ken Stott.

Another about comedian Frankie Howerd starred David Walliams as the comedy actor, while a fourth examined the troubled relationship between Steptoe and Son actors Harry H Corbett and Wilfrid Brambell, who were played by Jason Isaacs and Phil Davis respectively.

A BBC spokeswoman confirmed that the Marje Proops project was in development.

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